kleinerevskleineremWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“kleinere” and “kleinerem” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,660
“kleinere” frequency rank
#43,288
“kleinerem” frequency rank
45948
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kleinere kleinerem
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Komparativs des Adjektivs klein Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Komparativs des Adjektivs klein

Where the eye mixes kleinere and kleinerem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. kleinere runs 8 letters (CCVVCVCV) against kleinerem's 9 (CCVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
kleinere
9 ch
kleinerem

Why the eye confuses kleinere with kleinerem

A purely visual mix-up. kleinere ([ˈklaɪ̯nəʁə]) and kleinerem ([ˈklaɪ̯nəʁəm]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “kleinere” sits inside “kleinerem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45948, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kleinere is recorded at frequency rank #2,660, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nəʁə]. kleinerem is at rank #43,288, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nəʁəm].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 45948, this pair ranks #1,335,744 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kleinere vs kleinerem

Shared letters: eiklnr. Private to "kleinere": -. Private to "kleinerem": m.

"kleinere" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCV  ·  "kleinerem" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kleinerekelinere · kkleinere · kleienre · kleineer · kleinerre · kleinnere · kleinree · kleniere
  • kleineremkelinerem · kkleinerem · kleienrem · kleineerm · kleineremm · kleinerme · kleinerrem · kleinnerem

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kleinere" and "kleinerem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklaɪ̯nəʁə] versus [ˈklaɪ̯nəʁəm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "kleinere" or "kleinerem" show up more?
"kleinere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,660 in our German list, against #43,288 for "kleinerem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kleinere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kleinerem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,335,744 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kleinere" and "kleinerem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kleinerem vs Kleinkram". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,335,744 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list